Pied Flycatcher

The Pied Flycatcher is a striking bird in its breeding phase with brighter and darker-coloured plumage than at other times.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Ficedula hypoleuca
Family: 
Old World Flycatchers
Family Latin name: 
MUSCICAPIDAE
Category: 
Birds

Species description

Species description

The Pied Flycatcher is a rather striking bird in its breeding plumage with white underparts, black and white wings, and a distinct white spot on the forehead. Outside the breeding season, it is a duller-looking bird whose black parts have become brown, and whose white parts have lost their brightness. They prefer mature woodlands.

This bird averages 13 centimetres in length and has a wingspan of 22 centimetres. It arrives in Britain in April and departs in September. It winters in tropical Africa, but breeds here and in Europe.

The Pied Flycatcher has a conservation status of AMBER because of recent population declines, with an estimated 25,000 breeding pairs in Britain.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
The Pied Flycatcher is a striking bird in its breeding phase with brighter and darker-coloured plumage than at other times.

Details

Species family information

Old world flycatchers are a large family of passerine (perching) birds. They are mostly insectivorous and eat on the wing, as the name suggests. Most flycatchers in Europe and Asia are migratory, leaving their northern breeding grounds for the winter months to find insects in the warmer south. Patterns of migration are evolving, with birds not moving so far south, and a few individuals even overwintering on their breeding grounds.

Category information

The earliest feathered dinosaur fossils date from the early Cretaceous, but the ancestry of birds goes further back to Jurassic theropod dinosaurs, which shared a common ancestor with the crocodilians. Well known theropod groups include the tyrannosaurs, allosaurs, and other carnivores. Of surviving bird groups, the most ancient are the ratites (ostriches, rheas, tinamous, moas, kiwis, cassowaries, and emus), followed in evolutionary order by the waterfowl (ducks, geese and swans) and then the land fowl (chickens, turkeys, pheasants and their kin). Heene cemetery’s most ancient bird visitors are the woodpigeons. Strictly, therefore, we ought to refer to birds as dinosaurs, for they are direct descendants. The RSPB would be more accurately restyled as the RSPD. Where known, the conservation status of each bird is given as red, amber, or green, according to its survival potential based on 2016 populations and recent population trends.

Birds are warm-blooded, and have feathers, toothless, beaked jaws, and a strong, lightweight skeleton. They lay hard-shelled eggs. Their hearts have four chambers, and their metabolic rate is high. Although most are adapted for flight, many can also run, jump, swim and dive. Flightless birds retain vestigial wings. Brown, green, and grey are the commonest bird colours, for camouflage.

Protections

Legal protections and status
IUCN Birds of Conservation Concern: Amber List
Sussex Notable Bird List